1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to tools and, more particularly, to a hand tool for installing communication cable in a cleft.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the telecommunications infrastructure grows and improves, more and more communication cable is installed. New residential construction requires new communication cables linking the new homes to the telecommunications network. Businesses, and even some homes, are installing fiber optic communication cables. Even Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) customers are having their old copper telephone wires replaced with new and improved communication cables (such as CAT3 and CAT5 cables). More and more residential telephone customers are adding second and third telephone lines to accommodate Internet access, fax machines, multiple telephone lines, and even home businesses. Cable companies, too, are adding more and more communication cable as digital access to multimedia content improves. The telecommunications infrastructure, then, is exponentially growing and requiring more and more installations of communication cable.
Installing communication cable, however, has become more difficult. Customers want an aesthetic installation, but the communication cable installer only has a limited amount of time to complete the installation. Most customers, for example, want the communication cables hidden from view, however, the installer cannot take the time to route the communication cables between walls. The installer, then often compromises and stuffs the communication cable into a cleft. A “cleft” is a crack, slit, crevice, or, in general, a separation between two or more components. A cleft, for example, often exists along the soffit of a roof of a building. An individual stuffs the communication cable into this cleft, and the communication cable is mostly hidden from view. A cleft may also exist along the siding of a building, between a floor and a baseboard, and between framing members. A cleft, suffice it to say, is any space in which communication cable is stuffed.
Stuffing communication cable along a cleft, however, presents its own problems. Stuffing the communication cable into the cleft is sometimes slow and tedious work, and the communication cable is often damaged. Because the communication cable often tightly fits into the cleft, a screwdriver is often used to stuff the communication cable into the cleft. An individual presses the communication cable into the cleft using the flat blade of the screwdriver. The flat blade, however, has a sharp, pointed edge, and this edge often pokes holes in the outer jacket of the communication cable. The flat blade, even worse, can slice the communication cable, and the blade may also scratch the componentry surrounding the cleft.
Even if the screwdriver does not damage the communication cable, the installer must stuff the communication cable at very short intervals. When stuffing communication cable along the soffit, for example, the individual slowly stuffs a few feet of communication cable and climbs down from the ladder. The individual then moves the ladder, climbs the ladder, and stuffs another few feet. This arduous process is often repeated for one hundred (100) or two hundred (200) feet. Even if the installer does not have to scale a ladder, stuffing a few feet of communication cable at a time is still a slow and arduous task to complete in an allotted time.
There is, accordingly, a need for a tool that stuffs communication cable into a cleft, a tool that speeds up the installation of communication cable, and a need for a tool that does not damage the communication cable while stuffing into the cleft.